tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13408056457401128102018-08-28T02:03:58.423-07:00enthusiasm of the momentWe like a lot of things. Sometimes we write about them.the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-51769269122240756702011-02-17T15:01:00.000-08:002011-02-21T21:50:56.234-08:0012c. The Larry Sanders Show<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6tkBqoPyD34/TWNK0z4JWGI/AAAAAAAAAHg/MGTGqY7P9-A/s1600/262106.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6tkBqoPyD34/TWNK0z4JWGI/AAAAAAAAAHg/MGTGqY7P9-A/s400/262106.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576383034754160738" /></a>The show hit the ground running with its first episode, "What Have You Done for Me Lately?" (According to the episode's commentary track by Garry Shandling and Peter Tolan, the episode's writer, this was actually the sixth episode filmed.) The creators of the series were confident enough to dispense with introductions to the characters. The essential traits of the characters became evident without any clumsy exposition. The look and feel of the series also became clear with the first 'walk and talk,' which followed Larry and Artie's conversation as they walked down a hallway right after the talk show finished taping.<div><br /></div><div>Here's some exemplary dialogue from the first episode:</div><div><b></b></div><blockquote><div><b>Melanie</b> (Vice President of Programming): Our number one problem, mathwise: lost viewers equals lost advertisers equals lost revenues. What do we do to keep our advertisers happy -- other than give them free handjobs? Now, Larry, we've talked to some of your sponsors. We've asked them what we can do for them. It's come back to us this way: They want you to do live commercials as part of the show. They want it -- that means <i>we</i> want it.</div><div><b>Sheldon</b> (President of the network): You can see how this would help us.</div><div><b>Larry</b>: Well, uh, you know, knowing the sponsors the way I do, I just think they would respond more to the handjobs. But, you're asking me actually to do live commercials?</div><div><b>Melanie</b>: You have a problem with that.</div><div><b>Larry</b>: No, I just ... My only concern would be the style of the show that we've established over the years and it ... I'm not sure that the live commercials would mesh with that style.</div><div><b>Melanie</b>: You don't want to do it.</div><div><b>Larry</b>: No, I didn't say that. Uh, Artie?</div><div><b>Artie</b>: Melanie, I'd like to jump in if I might. Oh, that's a lovely thing you have at your neck, by the way. I think what Larry's trying to say is that we have no real problem with the live commercial concept.</div><div><b>Larry</b>: Absolutely not.</div><div><b>Artie</b>: It's just a matter of finding the right man for this job. Now I don't know if you know, but Hank Kingsley does a hell of a lot of fine commercial work. He does the adjustable bed. He does the medical alert necklace. He does, uh, --</div><div><b>Network executive</b>: Arthur, excuse me. Melanie, if I may?</div><div><b>Melanie</b>: Mmm hmm.</div><div><b>Network executive</b>: The thing is ... Hank does too much commercial work. He's way overexposed. His saturation level is very high.</div><div><b>Larry</b>: Gee, I don't think that's true.</div><div><b>Network executive</b>: He's doing the Green Giant spots.</div><div><b>Larry</b>: Is that Hank?</div><div><b>Network executive</b>: You can't really tell because you only see him from the knees down. But, uh, he's the new Green Giant.</div><div><b>Larry</b>: I didn't know that. Hank's the fucking Green Giant? </div></blockquote><div></div><div>In this one scene, we see several recurring elements of the show: </div><div><ul><li>Larry uses Artie to solve his problems ('Uh, Artie?')</li><li>The network tries to make Larry's show more profitable</li><li>Hank is willing to take any gig that will supplement his sidekick income</li><li>Larry hides behind humour and doesn't want to be seen as uncooperative (here, he makes a handjob joke and denies that he has a problem with doing live commercials)</li><li>Artie tries to seem charming ('Oh, that's a lovely thing you have at your neck, by the way') and reasonable ('we have no real problem with the live commercial', 'it's just a matter of finding the right man for the job'). </li><li>Profanity is omnipresent (in just a few minutes, we get two 'handjobs' and one 'fuck') </li></ul><div>Eventually, Larry does three live commercials for the Garden Weasel:</div></div><div><br /></div><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/M9dT-S4RyQI?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-20304498418336882372011-02-07T20:18:00.000-08:002011-02-07T21:28:43.424-08:0012b. The Larry Sanders Show<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/TVDFxrDSfSI/AAAAAAAAAHY/1jGO7Dwycow/s1600/larry-20101206-123041-medium.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 285px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/TVDFxrDSfSI/AAAAAAAAAHY/1jGO7Dwycow/s400/larry-20101206-123041-medium.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571170196218084642" /></a><i>The Larry Sanders Show</i> became a template of sorts for other handheld comedy-of-awkwardness shows (e.g., <i>The Office</i>). The characters are a pretty unlikeable bunch. They tend to be petty and narcissistic -- and riveting. Larry, the talk show host, is self-obsessed and neurotic. (That said, he's more 'normal' than either Leno or Letterman, both of whom are monumentally fucked up. Don't believe us? Read the Bill Carter books we mentioned yesterday.) Hank, the sidekick, is self-obsessed and clueless. (He's even chastised at one point for nodding off mid-episode.) Artie, the producer, is show-obsessed and intense. He also pours a kickass <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salty_dog_(cocktail)">salty dog</a>. <div><br /></div><div>Frankly, we can't easily explain why we like the show so much. Sure, the characters are great. (The one character who comes to mind as being too cartoony is Darlene, Hank's personal assistant. According to imdb, the actress playing Darlene, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0234720/">Linda Doucett</a>, 'lived with Garry Shandling from 1987-94. When they broke up, she filed charges against him for sexual discrimination and sexual harrassment.' Jesus. Why did we have to read that?) Yes, the writing and acting are exceptional. And the show has some unbelievable cameos (e.g., David Duchovny as David Duchovny -- it's one of his finest roles, and, no, we're not kidding). <i>The Larry Sanders Show</i> rewards repeat viewing and sometimes startles you with its humour, its sadness, or its honesty. <div><br /><div><div>If you're wondering what happened to Garry Shandling in the years after<i> The Larry Sanders Show</i>, we'd recommend reading the GQ article <a href="http://www.gq.com/entertainment/humor/201008/comedy-issue/comedy-issue-garry-shandling">The Comedian's Comedian's Comedian</a>, which was published in August 2010. </div></div></div></div>the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-8460338688262791822011-02-06T19:21:00.000-08:002011-02-06T21:26:47.064-08:0012a. The Larry Sanders Show<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/TU9mPuKzykI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/b90hSmyZTTQ/s1600/The%2BLarry%2BSanders%2BShow.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/TU9mPuKzykI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/b90hSmyZTTQ/s400/The%2BLarry%2BSanders%2BShow.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570783684358031938" /></a>A few weeks ago, we read the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/War-Late-Night-Early-Television/dp/067002208X"><i>The War for Late Night</i></a> (2010) by Bill Carter. It does a good job of untangling the knots of the recent late night Coco v. Leno fiasco. It's also pretty entertaining. We'd previously read Carter's book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Late-Shift-Letterman-Network-Battle/dp/0786880899/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1297049619&amp;sr=8-1"><i>The Late Shift</i></a> (1994), which was about why NBC had chosen Leno over Letterman as Carson's <i>Tonight Show</i> successor. <i>The War for Late Night</i> mentions that Garry Shandling was NBC's top choice to succeed Letterman when he jumped to CBS. They even offered him a substantial fee to host the show -- $5 million/yr, if memory serves -- unlike the much smaller sum they later offered Conan. Shandling thought about the offer and eventually declined. <div><br /></div><div>It's telling that Shandling would reject a massive amount of money to host an established late night show on NBC in order to helm <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103466/">The Larry Sanders Show</a></i>, a TV series he co-created that was broadcast on cable network HBO (remember, this is HBO before <i>Oz,</i> <i>The</i> <i>Sopranos, </i>and<i> The Wire</i>) that portrayed the egotistical assholes who run late night shows. </div><div><br /></div><div>We first happened upon <i>The Larry Sanders Show</i> in September 1997, when a six-hour marathon of the show aired during the launch of a new TV channel called VTV (Vancouver Television). We'd heard plenty of good things about the show and even taped the full six hours on a VHS tape. We watched those episodes repeatedly and tracked down as many other episodes as we could. (This was eight years before YouTube existed.) </div><div><br /></div><div>Recently, we acquired the just-released complete series box set (17 discs!) from Shout! Factory. (A few years ago, we received the four disc set <i>Not Just the Best of Larry Sanders</i> as a great gift.) We've been rewarding ourselves by doling out episodes irregularly rather than devouring them all in a short span, which is our usual pattern. (We're currently in the middle of Season Three.) Garry Shandling is a fucking genius, right? </div>the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-51889431332260993022011-02-06T19:18:00.000-08:002011-02-06T19:21:31.357-08:00The PlanOur latest plan is to focus on a single topic for an entire month. Actually, this was our original idea when we conceived of EOTM several years ago (2003? 2004?). Why don't we try it out for a while and see where it gets us?the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-26192528190178247122011-01-30T19:45:00.000-08:002011-01-30T19:50:18.427-08:00UpdateYes, we haven't posted for a couple of months. But we did start another blog recently, <a href="http://theeenthusiasts.blogspot.com/">Song of the Moment</a>, which we have been posting to with surprising regularity. <div><br /></div><div>Plus, we've got an idea for how to change the format of EOTM. Things would change somewhat, but not that much. Make sense? We didn't think so. Maybe we'll try to explain tomorrow. </div>the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-41561559853597015992010-11-30T20:19:00.000-08:002010-11-30T22:05:04.100-08:0011. WTF with Marc Maron<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/TPXi1TYsSjI/AAAAAAAAAG4/9DC9_zsmD3Q/s1600/247cc3ab06a1864064b258da53341c18-1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/TPXi1TYsSjI/AAAAAAAAAG4/9DC9_zsmD3Q/s320/247cc3ab06a1864064b258da53341c18-1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545587921541417522" /></a>At the moment, we have 1747 unlistened-to podcast episodes waiting for us in iTunes. It would take over 50 days of listening (24 hrs/day, 7 days/wk) to hear them all. We need to prioritize, to put our ducks in a row. For the past several months, <a href="http://wtfpod.com/">WTF with Marc Maron</a> has been one of our favourite podcasts. It took us a while to warm to Marc's intense, personal monologues that open each episode. (Idea for a drinking game: Imbibe every time Maron says "What's <i>wrong</i> with me?!") We also didn't initially love his tendency to focus on himself during interviews. Now we can see that by talking about himself Maron (inadvertently or not) encourages his guests to talk about themselves -- and it works. <div><br /></div><div><b>How we discovered WTF with Marc Maron</b>:</div><div>We don't remember. Maybe it was through <a href="http://www.maximumfun.org/shows/sound-young-america">The Sound of Young America</a> (still probably our very favourite podcast). Maybe it was <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/marc-maron,43542/">an interview Maron did</a> with the Onion's AV Club. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Why WTF is worth a listen</b>:</div><div>If you like comedy -- particularly stand-up comedy -- you'll like WTF. (The lion's share of Maron's guests are comedians.) If you don't like comedy, you <i>might</i> still like the show. No promises, though. </div><div><br /></div><div>Maron has been a stand-up comic for about 20 years, so the dynamic when he's interviewing another comedian is unique. It's essentially a conversation between peers. The fact that he's willing to talk about his insecurities and flaws often means that his guests do the same. It's particularly interesting when he has a guest on the show who he's known for a long time. His two-hour chat with Louis C.K. -- who was once Maron's roommate -- was fascinating. They had been good friends, then some shit came between them -- Maron was jealous of Louis' success, Louis felt that Maron had not been there for him when his marriage ended and his TV show <i>Lucky Louie</i> was cancelled, etc. -- and they talked quite openly about this shit on the air.</div><div><br /></div><div>To our ears, WTF has one of the best hosts out there, features fantastic guests, and is updated with surprising regularity (hour-long episodes are generally uploaded twice a week). </div><div><br /></div><div>Here's the first part of his interview with Louis CK:</div><div><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Foe_K19SQoE?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;color1=0x234900&amp;color2=0x4e9e00"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Foe_K19SQoE?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;color1=0x234900&amp;color2=0x4e9e00" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /></div><div><b>Recommended viewing</b>:</div><div>Obviously, we've been really into stand-up comedy lately. Here are two really good documentaries about stand-up we can recommend: </div><div><ol><li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328962/">Comedian</a> follows Jerry Seinfeld as he develops a new stand-up routine after being away from it for many years. We're not the hugest fan of Seinfeld (the comedian or the TV show), but the documentary is great and really illuminates the process of developing a set. </li><li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568926/">I Am Comic</a>. The director talks to a bunch of different comedians (e.g., Andy Kindler, Jim Gaffigan, Dana Gould, Rosanne Barr, Phyllis Diller, etc.) about the business and the art of stand-up comedy. Great stuff. </li></ol></div>the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-65283406457665662082010-11-30T20:05:00.000-08:002010-11-30T20:19:43.303-08:00Another delayClearly, we've been neglecting this blog. Heck, we've even changed its name from from Enthusiasm of the Week to Enthusiasm of the Moment to more accurately reflect how frequently [sic] we add new posts.<br /><br />The original idea was to write a post a week for a year. 52 posts in 52 weeks. So far, we've added 10 posts in about 68 weeks. It's kinda like that poem "The Shadow People" by Auden: "This is the way the world ends, world ends, world ends / Not with a flood but a trickle." (If we're not mistaken, that poem might be where the band Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet found inspiration for its name. We particularly like the SMoaSP album <span style="font-style:italic;">Dogs Go On With Their Doggy Life</span>.)the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-29734897359181393982010-06-01T16:54:00.000-07:002010-06-01T20:09:35.241-07:0010. The Octopus Project<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/TAXF17TWruI/AAAAAAAAAFU/5cqKh9kQ4Uc/s1600/octopusProject.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 290px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/TAXF17TWruI/AAAAAAAAAFU/5cqKh9kQ4Uc/s320/octopusProject.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478002052008685282" /></a><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We're going to hypothesize. And this is our hypothesis: Many people have a 10-15 year window when they care intensely about music. At some point, they lose that initial vigour. They still like music, but they don't love it quite as much. At least, we've noticed this tendency in ourselves and many of our friends.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Which brings us to <a href="http://www.theoctopusproject.com/">the Octopus Project</a>, the most exciting band we've discovered in the past few years. At first, its music -- being mainly instrumental -- was the perfect sonic accompaniment for reading on long commutes around Metro Vancouver. (We were shuttling between Burnaby, Coquitlam, Surrey, Vancouver, and West Vancouver). Before long, we were playing Octopus Project on a daily basis. </span></span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">How we discovered the Octopus Project: </span></b><br /></span></o:p><class="msonormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><a href="http://www.wileywiggins.com/blog/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Wiley Wiggins' blog</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> may have been the first place that we heard about the band. He is friends with some members, and he was playing keyboards for the Diagonals, who opened for the OP on a brief tour. (By the way, </span><a href="http://www.myspace.com/diagonalstx"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">the Diagonals</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> have a few catchy tunes of their own. Our favourite song of theirs is "Clones," which has </span><a href="http://vimeo.com/3427153"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">a creepy, grin-inducing video</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">.) </span></span></class="msonormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">Why the Octopus Project is worth listening to:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><br /></span><class="msonormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">There are plenty of adjectives that we could use to describe the band's music (e.g., whimsical, poppy, electronic, circuit bending, ethereal). But we'll try to avoid using too many vague descriptors. The Octopus Project creates music for all ages and situations. You have guests coming over? Cue up some OP! Need an aural pick-me-up? Give OP a shot! The Octopus Project could be the musical guest on a children's show in the morning (they could even bring some </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/grimis/2979695840/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">fantastic</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">, </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_simmons/1733022770/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">kid-friendly</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"> </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/akmal-naim/143825663/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">props</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">!), set toes tapping at a retirement home in the afternoon, and rock your city's coolest club in the evening.</span></span></span></span></b></class="msonormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Where to start:</span></b></span><br /><class="msonormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">One Ten Hundred Thousand Million</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (2005)</span></span><br /><class="msonormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Hello, Avalanche</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (2007)</span></span></class="msonormal"></class="msonormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The albums:</span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">If you want a quick taste of the Octopus Project, we'd recommend downloading (for free and legally! with good sound quality, no less!) the group's </span><a href="http://www.daytrotter.com/dt/the-octopus-project-concert/20030288-3737660.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">four song Daytrotter session</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">. If you don't like the Daytrotter songs, you won't like the Octopus Project. If you want to hear more of this Austin-based band, you should get </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">One Ten Hundred Thousand Million</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> next. Follow that up with </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Hello, </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Avalanche</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It's difficult for us to compare the Octopus Project's albums. They're of a piece, but they have different flavours. You'll hear some keyboards, guitars, bass, and drums. You'll also hear some thermin, samples, and glockenspiel. Some of the songs are rhythmic and some are atmospheric.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Rather than describe the music, I'm just going to include a batch of videos. Luckily, the Octopus Project tends to have stellar videos. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">"Exit Counslor" (from </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">One Ten Hundred Thousand Million</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">):</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><object width="400" height="227"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6200534&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6200534&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="227"></embed></object></p><p><br /></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">"Music is Happiness" (from </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">One Ten Hundred Thousand Million</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">)</span></span></p><object width="400" height="227"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6200312&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6200312&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="227"></embed></object><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><br /></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">"I Saw the Bright Shinies" (from </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Hello, Avalanche</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">) [Our favourite video of the past couple years!]</span></span></p><object width="400" height="270"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1985415&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1985415&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="270"></embed></object><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">"An Evening with Rthrtha" (from</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Hello, Avalanch</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">e</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">)</span></span></p><object width="400" height="227"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6199690&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6199690&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="227"></embed></object><p><br /></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">"Truck" (from </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Hello, Avalanche</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">)</span></span></p><object width="400" height="220"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5656770&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5656770&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="220"></embed></object><p><br /></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">"Wet Gold" (from </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Golden Beds</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> EP)</span></span></p><div><object width="400" height="227"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5788046&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5788046&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="227"></embed></object><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">After listening to these two albums, you'll (likely) want to delve into the rest of the Octopus Project's catalogue. Enjoy. (The group has a song called "Music is Happiness" for a good reason.) </span></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>Other listening/viewing:</b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Earlier this year, the Octopus Project played two free shows in a tent set up in the parking lot of a Whole Foods in Austin. It looks like it was an unbelievable event. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Here is the commercial for the shows:</span></span></p><object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10211875&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10211875&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><p><br /></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">... and some live footage:</span></span></p><object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10315716&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10315716&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"> </span></p> <!--EndFragment--> </div>the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-61707252141810526502010-05-25T12:56:00.000-07:002010-06-01T13:46:11.870-07:009. Breaking Bad<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/S_xUWO5KrNI/AAAAAAAAAFM/KYX-UbFsEkU/s1600/6a00d83451c17f69e2011168a2116b970c-450wi.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/S_xUWO5KrNI/AAAAAAAAAFM/KYX-UbFsEkU/s320/6a00d83451c17f69e2011168a2116b970c-450wi.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475343987907407058" /></a><div style="text-align: left;">At the moment, we're only watching one fictional TV series on a weekly basis: <i>Breaking Bad</i>. (We're also watching the reality show <i>Top Chef Masters</i>.)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>How we discovered <i>Breaking Bad</i>:</b></div><div>Even though we've been watching <i>Mad Men</i> (also on AMC) for quite a while now, we only gave <i>Breaking Bad</i> a chance earlier this year. It might have been shortly after Onion A.V. Club began releasing its "Best of the decade" lists. (We're very fond of best-of lists.) Breaking Bad was #6 on the list of <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-tv-series-of-the-00s,35256/">Best TV series of the '00s</a>. (We were familiar with most of the titles, and we'd already watched the entire series for #1-5. A quick aside: Sure, <i>the Wire</i> should be #1. Absolutely. But <i>the Sopranos</i> and <i>Arrested Development</i> as #2 and #3? Doesn't <i>anyone</i> notice that <i>AD</i> took a severe quality dip in its last season and that <i>the Sopranos</i> had an overabundance of aimless dream sequences, not to mention plenty of so-so episodes? Anyhow, at least<i> Freaks and Geeks</i> [4] and <i>Mad Men</i> [5] rounded out the Top 5.)</div><div><br /></div><div>The public library near our house had seasons 1 and 2 of <i>Breaking Bad</i>. We consumed both of them in quick succession. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Why it's worth watching:</b></div><div><i>Breaking Bad</i> is very dark, and few of the characters are likeable. (Only one unambiguously likeable character comes to mind, Walter Jr., the main character's son.) But its writing is more consistent than most other series we've watched lately, including <i>Dexter</i>, <i>Californication</i>, and <i>Big Love</i>. It also boasts a richer collection of flawed characters than those three shows. (We're typing this one day after seeing an in-between episode ["Fly," directed by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426059/">Rian Johnson</a>, best known for high school-indie-noir flick <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393109/">Brick</a>].) </div><div><br /></div><div><b>The series:</b></div><div>Here's the set-up (revealed in the first episode): High school Chemistry teacher Walter White is diagnosed with terminal cancer. His wife, Skyler, is pregant, and his teenage son, Walter Jr. (aka "Flynn") has cerebral palsy. After learning that his former student Jesse Pinkman is involved in selling methamphetamine, Walter decides to start "cooking" (Walt's favourite term for producing meth), with Jesse as his business partner. That way, he'll be able to make enough money quickly to provide for his family after he's gone. (Yes, this is how the series gets its -- admittedly pretty lame -- title.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Here is the first scene in season 1:</div><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TpQoavGLWIo&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TpQoavGLWIo&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /><div><br /></div><div>Walter's descent into criminality is compelling. Plus, we get to watch him slide between different worlds (home, school, underworld), wondering how long he'll be able to keep from getting caught by the law, by his wife, or by the drug dealers competing with him and his burnout partner-in-crime, Jesse.</div><div><br /></div><div>We don't watch any TV shows just for the acting, but some of the performances here are amazing. There is a good reason Bryan Cranston (playing Walt) has won the Emmy the past two years as best actor in a dramatic series. His character is incredibly rich, and Cranston is great at conveying Walt's depth and darkness. </div><div><br /></div><div>We will watch <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0644022/">Bob Odenkirk</a> in anything, but his portrayal of sleazy lawyer Saul Goodman takes the cake. (Check out the website <a href="http://www.bettercallsaul.com/">Better Call Saul</a> for a closer look at this ridiculously entertaining character.) Here is one of Saul Goodman's TV ads:</div><div><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4dmcT3lvWPM&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4dmcT3lvWPM&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /></div><div>For additional dark comic relief, we're also partial to Jesse's slow-on-the-uptake homeboys, Badger, Combo, and Skinny Pete. </div><div><br /></div><div>Season 3 started off with an ill-advised brothers-out-for-vengance plotline. Thankfully, the season has also had some great moments, including nearly every scene with the calm, buttoned-down drug kingpin/restaurant owner Gus. </div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Other reading/viewing:</b></div><div>There are a number of webisodes that you can watch on the <a href="http://www.amctv.com/originals/breakingbad/">AMC website</a>, though we've only seen a few of them.</div><div><br /></div><div>We're hoping to post more frequently. That way, we won't need to change the title of this blog to 'Enthusiasm of the Month' or 'Infrequent Enthusiasms.' We will try, at least. </div>the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-25391136919187656662010-04-04T12:23:00.001-07:002010-04-18T08:42:01.014-07:008. Redd Kross<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/S7kcrMLHu3I/AAAAAAAAAE8/5dcpxfqjrj0/s1600/dept186.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/S7kcrMLHu3I/AAAAAAAAAE8/5dcpxfqjrj0/s320/dept186.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456423951863888754" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">About once a year, we go through a Redd Kross phase. As this year's phase winds down, it seems like the perfect time to write about the band.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><a href="http://www.reddkross.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Redd Kross</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> is one of those California-based bands with siblings at its core. (See also: the Beach Boys [from Hawthorne, CA, just like Redd Kross], CCR, and Van Halen.) Jeff McDonald (voice/guitar) and Steve McDonald (bass/voice) started playing together in the late-'70s, when they were both very young. (Jeff was barely a teenager and Steve was still in primary school.) </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">How we discovered Redd Kross:</span></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">When we were 14 or 15, we first heard </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Neurotica</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, the band's high-water mark. We immediately fell for its catchy songs with peculiar lyrics. (Two examples: "Tabasco is hot; / Some call it love" from "Janus, Jeanie, and George Harrison" and "Steven says 'papaya'; / he says 'papaya' / yeeeaaah!" from "Ghandi Is Dead [I'm the Cartoon Man].") Redd Kross was also the first band we ever saw in a club. We were underage at the time, but managed to get in using some borrowed ID. After the show, our friend Mike said we should talk to the band. We were nervous, but delighted to meet Steve, who was surprisingly friendly and wide-eyed. (At the time, he was really into the word 'groovy.')</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Why Redd Kross is worth listening to:</span></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Redd Kross writes and records songs that might be seen as superficial because they're steeped in pop culture references. But the brothers McDonald are delightfully playful and generally successful at negotiating the Spinal Tapian line between clever and stupid. No other band sounds or looks like Redd Kross. Imagine the Partridge Family with longer hair, better songs, and more drugs. Perhaps the Japanese all-girl trio Shonen Knife is as close as it gets. (RK more or less 'discovered' SK. The bands have also recorded songs about each other: 'Shonen Knife' by Redd Kross and 'Redd Kross' by Shonen Knife.)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Where to start:</span></span></b></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Neurotica</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (1987)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The albums:</span></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The band's first EP, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Red Cross </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">(1980), doesn't stand up well when placed beside some of the other recordings coming out the early LA punk scene (i.e., X's </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Los Angeles</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, Minutemen's </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Paranoid Time</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, and the early Black Flag singles). Then again, the band members were still in high school at the time. "Annette's Got the Hits" is the best number on the EP. This minute-long ditty about Annette Funicello is the first of many celebrity-related songs the band will write. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Redd Kross's first LP, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Born Innocent</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (1982), opens with "Linda Blair," the song's first couplet being, "In </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The Exorcist</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, baby, you were really insane. / You got busted, you got busted, you got busted for cocaine." (According to interviews we've read, Redd Kross's name comes from the crucifix masturbation scene in </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The Exorcist</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">.) The second song, "White Trash," underscores the album's snotty, kids-fucking-around-with-instruments tone. (The song's chorus is "You're just white trash. / You better watch what you say to me. / Just white trash / And your brother can't even read. Whew!") "Cellulite City" might be our favourite track on </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Born Innocent</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">. Even after dozens of listens, its last lines remain incredibly funny and poignant: "Feel free to plug your ears / 'Cause I've only been alive for fourteen years." </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Long before it was cool, Redd Kross released an EP of cover songs, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Teen Babes From Monsanto</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (1984). (The band has always done dyamite covers.) Some of the songs are what you would expect (Kiss, Rolling Stones, Stooges, and Bowie) and some are more surprising (Shangri-Las, and "Blow You a Kiss in the Wind" from the TV show </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Bewitched</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">).</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Here's "Blow You a Kiss in the Wind" as it appeared on </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Bewitched</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">:</span></span></div><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y3cFkXSgfjg&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y3cFkXSgfjg&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">And Redd Kross's cover version:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span><div><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rqC_wtEOEsI&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rqC_wtEOEsI&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Neurotica </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">(1987) is the group's most consistent album. It's confident, hooky, and sprawling (in a good way). It overflows with pop, love, pop culture, and punk-metallic goodness. There are a few songs that we don't love, but we're still glad they're there. In a just universe, songs like "Peach Kelli Pop" and "Love Is You" would have been blasting from car radios across North America in 1987. Instead, they were relegated to being spun on tiny university radio stations by grad student DJs. Trouser Press calls </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Neurotica</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> the band's "</span><a href="http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=red_kross"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">national underground breakout record</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">," whatever that means.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It's difficult for us to characterize what we love about </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Neurotica</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">. Somehow, it manages to be simultaneously goofy and sincere. We find its distorted, catchy songs pretty irresistable. At this point, the group's songwriting and musicianship were at their zenith. There are gorgeous little moments in nearly every song. We love the dip in Jeff's voice when he sings the word "dance" in the lyrics "Tell me why they don't understand / When you take a little chance / The answers might come / And you learn how to dance" (in "Play My Song"). We love the bit in "McKenzie" (about </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">One Day at a Time</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> star </span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0680603/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Mackenzie Phillips</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, of course) when Jeff sings "I can make you happy" and the (Partridge Family-inspired?) backing vocals come in "Happy! / Happy!" We love Steve's melodic bass playing, Robert Hecker's guitar hijinks, and the Goldilocks-like use of cymbals (just the right amount). </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We're too lazy to embed any music (as you may have already noticed), so we're stuck with what's freely available online. Here's some footage of Redd Kross circa </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Neurotica</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, playing the album's title track live:</span></span></div><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XjD5Nm75JfQ&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XjD5Nm75JfQ&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">After </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Neurotica, </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">the band had some record label-related legal troubles and was unable to record under its own name for quite some time. Unfortunately, the loopy, Beatles-tweaking music the brothers McDonald recorded as the Tater Totz was not as beloved as their Redd Kross jams. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Redd Kross has released some great post-</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Neurotica</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> songs (e.g., 'Bubblegum Factory,' 'Mess Around,' 'Switchblade Sister'), but it's never managed to put together another brilliant album. Maybe this will change now that the band has returned to its classic </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Neurotica</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> line-up? </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Other listening/viewing:</span></b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Sadly, there is no book about Redd Kross. (An oral history would be a great idea, folks! Put us down for an advance copy, please.) However, there is a </span><a href="http://redddkrosspodcast.blogspot.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Redd Kross podcast</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, which includes a few Robert Hecker-related episodes. ("Ted" -- aka episode 5 -- is infamous. It's a recording of a guy who auditioned to be the lead singer in a post-Redd Kross band that Hecker was assembling. Problem 1: Ted can't sing. Problem 2: He only knows one or two lines from </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">any</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> song, even the ones he suggests they play. Despite how embarrassing it might sound, it's actually strangely compelling. In particular, his version of "Start Me Up" is amazing. He only knows three words from that song. "Start me up! / Start me up, start me up, start me up! / Start me up! / Start! Me! Up!" Truly mind blowing.) </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We'll leave you with one last video chestnut. A couple of years ago, Jeff McDonald directed a brilliant video for the Steven McDonald Group's blistering cover of Kim Fowley's song "Motorboat":</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"> </span></div></div></div><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/q9GRcWL7VY0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/q9GRcWL7VY0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-19577339609633162362010-02-22T21:04:00.000-08:002010-03-29T09:54:27.902-07:007. Stanza<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">It’s been over four months since the last EOTW entry. Rather than bore you with the details of that period, we’ll simply try posting weekly again.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">A number of topics were considered for this week’s post. We decided to choose one that’s unlike than anything that we’ve discussed before: an application.</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">How we discovered Stanza:</span></span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">Several months ago, we read Nicholson Baker’s </span></span><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/08/03/090803fa_fact_baker"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">article on the Kindle</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"> in the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">New Yorker</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">. Baker was unimpressed with the Kindle, but he seemed to enjoy reading ebooks on his iPod Touch. He mentioned a variety of reading applications, including Stanza. (His favourite application was Eucalyptus, which we haven’t tried yet.) Recently, we downloaded Stanza and have added a handful of free ebooks (via Project Gutenberg) to our library.</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">Why Stanza is worth using:</span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">Stanza is a joy to use, largely because it’s so intuitive. Click on the right edge of the screen to turn the page. To turn back a page, click on the left edge of the screen. Click in the middle of the screen to see how much of the book you’ve read, to change the settings (e.g., to change the font or font size), to search in the book, or to go back to the list of titles in your library. You can also adjust the brightness of the screen by clicking in the middle of the page and slowly dragging your finger down (to darken) or up (to brighten).</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">We primarily use Stanza for reading before bed. (So far, we have read 27% of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">Moby-Dick</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">!) When we get tired, we can simply turn off the device and place it next to the bed. The next time Stanza is opened,</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">it displays the last page we were reading.</span></span></o:p></p> <span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">One of the only wrinkles in our Stanza-joyment is that when you turn the iPod Touch sideways, the letters on the screen (predictably) display horizontally. Therefore, you can’t put your head on the pillow and place the iPod Touch horizontally on the bed because the letters will look sideways. You have to angle the device diagonally. No matter. This is a small convenience for such a great application. Did we mention it’s free?</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">We tried to film a brief in-action video of Stanza. However, our camera isn't very good at focusing on objects that are under a foot away. So, here's a brief video we've grabbed from YouTube that sounds like it may have been narrated by </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001233/">Robert Forster</a> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">(thanks butterscotchcom!):</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Cambria, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-Times New Roman&quot;;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-USfont-family:&quot;;font-size:12.0pt;"> </span><!--EndFragment--></div><br /><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BoIpDInfwYg&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6&amp;border=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BoIpDInfwYg&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6&amp;border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object>the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-12898881166250227092009-10-04T18:08:00.001-07:002009-10-04T18:15:04.064-07:00Hiatus<p>We know that we haven't been diligently doling out enthusiasm lately. (It's been over two weeks since our last "enthusiasm of the week.") We started to write about our next enthusiasm -- the TV series <span style="font-style:italic;">Top Chef</span> -- but have run out of steam.</p> <p>Our excuse: We have been up to our eye sockets in work since the start of September. As a result, there may not be any posts for quite a while. Then again, our best friend has been asking about being a guest enthusiast while we're on hiatus. So, she might be posting here. We'll see.</p>the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-88632114447333677132009-09-14T17:50:00.000-07:002009-09-15T09:44:38.385-07:006. To the Best of Our Knowledge (TTBOOK)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/Sq7lLRtauiI/AAAAAAAAAEs/qPX2_FUY-M8/s1600-h/serial_28720.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/Sq7lLRtauiI/AAAAAAAAAEs/qPX2_FUY-M8/s320/serial_28720.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381490586649541154" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Sadly, we were unable to add another subject to our online catalogue of enthusiasms last week. But we have good reasons/excuses: we started two (!) new jobs and we went away for three days and two nights to attend a book launch. (It wasn’t our book, but one of its co-authors is our best friend.) Now that that’s out of the way, let the entry begin.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Over the past few years, we’ve downloaded dozens of different podcasts. Typically, we only listen to a few episodes before our interest begins to flag. One of our favourite podcasts at the moment is To the Best of Our Knowledge (TTBOOK), which is produced by Wisconsin Public Radio and distributed by Public Radio International (PRI). We were already familiar with a few great PRI-distributed podcasts (e.g., This American Life, The Sound of Young America), but we were pleasantly surprised to learn that (besides cheese and beer) Wisconsin produces an earthy and effervescent podcast. (We're also happy that the program isn't called Cheesehead Radio!)<br /><br /></span></span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">How we discovered TTBOOK:</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We found the podcast while browsing in iTunes. We downloaded an intriguing-sounding episode (“Elementary Holmes”) and really liked the interview-driven style of the show. By the end of the episode, we’d learned quite a bit about Sherlock Holmes, and we’d added a book to our to-read list (</span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> [2005]). The week after hearing “Elementary Holmes,” we listened to an episode about lists (“Lust For Life Lists”). We like lists. And we liked these two episodes. The diversity of these two topics hooked us into TTBOOK immediately.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Why TTBOOK is worth a listen:</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">TTBOOK has three likeable, knowledgeable interviewers (Steve Paulson and Anne Strainchamp, as well as host Jim Fleming), and these interviewers pose great questions to a wide range of engaging interviewees (e.g., Thomas Friedman, Jane Goodall, and DJ Spooky are all interviewed in a single episode; the topic was "Our Earth" and the episode aired in April 2009). And the shows are created quite quickly: There are two new hour-long, theme-based episodes each week. By the end of each episode, we know something we didn't know an hour ago.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br />We’ve learned about nerd culture, karaoke, and radical gardening. We’ve been inspired to bake Marlborough Pie, an apple pie that includes grated apples, eggs, and lemon juice and zest. (If you're interested, </span></span><a href="http://www.cookingcache.com/recipes/marlboroughpierecipe.shtml?rdid=rc1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">here</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> is the recipe we used. The filling is very custard-like and lemony. It's unlike other apple pies we've tried.) We’ve also been interested enough to read books by some of the guests, including a lighthearted, entertaining book about tribute bands called </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Like a Rolling Stone</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (2008). The book's author, Steven Kurutz, appeared on an episode called "So You Wanna Be a Rockstar." His description of the Rolling Stones tribute band Sticky Fingers piqued our interest.<br /><br />Recent topics on TTBOOK include autism, memory, libraries, remix culture, and David Foster Wallace. To tell you the truth, we were not looking forward to the episode on DFW. (We recently read lengthy articles in the </span></span><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/09/090309fa_fact_max"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">New Yorker</span></span></em></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> and </span></span><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/23638511/the_lost_years__last_days_of_david_foster_wallace"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Rolling Stone</span></span></em></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> on him and were suffering from slight DFW overload.) But this was a really good episode. The discussions were generally illuminating, and Anne Strainchamp even managed to talk to his sister, Amy.<br /><br />The <a href="http://wpr.org/book/">TTBOOK website</a> includes archives of the streamable episodes dating back to 2003.<br /><br />For a change, we don't have any recommendations for other viewing/reading this week. Likely this is because we're ridiculously busy right now and suspect you may be as well.</span></span></div></div>the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-10730896644524835862009-09-02T12:27:00.001-07:002009-09-08T20:22:07.858-07:005. Ben Katchor<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/SqGQSusjWlI/AAAAAAAAAEk/84866P84BfI/s1600-h/katchor.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 220px; height: 257px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/SqGQSusjWlI/AAAAAAAAAEk/84866P84BfI/s320/katchor.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377738081504025170" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We never tire of Ben Katchor's work. Yes, he is a cartoonist. But he's also a genius. Just ask the folks at the </span></span><a href="http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.959481/k.2EF5/Fellows_FAQ.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">MacArthur Foundation</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> who awarded him a "genius grant" in 2000. We don't know anyone who loves Katchor's art (it's not just comix; it's art, for real) as much as we do. But we are optimistic that this could change. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">How we discovered Ben Katchor</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">:</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Several years ago, we read an intriguing review in the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Globe and Mail</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> for his book </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer: The Beauty Supply District </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(2000). We bought his previous book (</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">) at the independent Granville Book Company -- the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">bookstore i</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">s now gone</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, and it's sorely missed -- </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">after reading only a few pages. We rarely buy books on the spot like that, but we're very glad that we did. Since then, we've read, bought, and reread all of Katchor's books. (There are only four of them to date.)</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Why Katchor is worth reading</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">:</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">No other writer celebrates the nooks and crannies of the urban landscape like Katchor. He's the unacknowledged laureate of metropolitan minutia, ephemera and detritus. (Sample titles of one-page stories by Katchor include "Sanitary Drinking Straws," "The Heating-Pad Repair Shop," and "The Smell of the Post Office.") His drawing style is unpretentious and expressive. His comic strips are funny, wonder-filled, and incredibly intricate. They also feature an inventive interplay between image and text. Katchor's books -- like those of his innovative, deservingly-lauded contemporary Chris Ware -- reward close attention and are invariably worth returning to again and again. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Where to start</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">:</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (1996)</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Jew of New York</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (1999)</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The books</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">:</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Three of Katchor's books include Julius Knipl, a real estate photographer. However, none of the books is </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">about</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Knipl. He is merely the lens through which we view the city; he's a flaneur in the urban streets of New York City. (Though it isn't named as such, the city is clearly a somewhat distorted version of NYC, Katchor's hometown.) The first Knipl book is </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Cheap Novelties: The Pleasures of Urban Decay </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(1991). It introduces the template that Katchor will expand upon in his subsequent work: a man aimlessly exploring the avenues and alleys of a metropolis, which appears to be stocked with an endless supply of peculiar shops and characters. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">By Katchor's second book, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, he had perfected his distinctive, pitch-perfect style. Somehow, his affectionate, quasi-nostalgic depiction of urban curiosities never devolves into mere schtick. He makes old things new; he makes familiar objects unfamiliar. Maybe if legendary NYC poet (and occasional art critic) John Ashbery could draw, he would produce comics like this. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We looked through the first pages of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> to find an example of what we liked about it. We wanted to flag nearly every page that we read. In the end, our example is from a page that we didn't remember from earlier readings in the book. It's fairly representative of what Katchor is doing. It's called "A Change of Name and Address" (click on the image to see it more clearly). </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/SqGQFTGYl6I/AAAAAAAAAEc/pKyQj5il-QE/s1600-h/knipl2.jpg"></a></span></span><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/SqGQFTGYl6I/AAAAAAAAAEc/pKyQj5il-QE/s1600-h/knipl2.jpg" style="text-decoration: none;"><img style="text-align: left;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 298px; " src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/SqGQFTGYl6I/AAAAAAAAAEc/pKyQj5il-QE/s400/knipl2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377737850757879714" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Here are a few observations about this one-page story: The text at the top of the page in the first four panels are essentially one long sentence that follows the flow of "a stream of amniotic fluid" down a street. First, we are shown a "transient's hotel." Then, we are shown "an unemployment agency offering unfamiliar, low paying-jobs." We see a man standing in front of the agency, reading a few of the jobs currently posted: "seven-layer cake worker - $8K, ball-point pen starters - $10K, measles groom - $7K." (FYI, Katchor's stories are brimming with lists.) The first two menial jobs make sense to us, but we haven't thought about them before. Now we are thinking about them, just like the man in the fourth panel, who asks, "What do I know about starting ball-point pens? I feel like a newborn baby." The third job ("measles groom") makes no sense to us. We understand both words, but they don't seem to belong together. What does a measles groom do and who would willingly work as a measles groom for $7,000/yr? (These jobs are all very, very low-paying.) In the third panel, we see that there is "a sale on permanently shined work shoes and belts monogrammed with the letter 'A'." Only the belts monogrammed with the letter 'A' are on sale? Strange. In the fifth panel, we see that the man who mentioned starting ball-point pens is talking to Julius Knipl. (Knipl tends to listen rather than talk.) After saying that he "feel[s] like a newborn baby," the man says that he's "even changing his name to Abra ... er ... to something else." We suspect he was going to say "Abraham," but stopped himself. Why? Did he suddenly remember the disturbing story of Abraham and Isaac? Did he think the name was too Jewish? (The character Julius Knipl is clearly Jewish. Interestingly, when Katchor was approached by a magazine to write a comic strip for them, they thought that Julius Knipl -- isn't that an extremely Jewish-sounding name? Apparently, the word Knipl means "nest egg" in Yiddish -- wasn't Jewish enough. To avoid any confusion, Katchor gave his next strip the unambiguous title </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Jew of New York</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.) At the end of the strip, we are told that "A barge, carrying all the birth certificates issued in the year 1948, is towed out to sea." Is this a non sequitur? Is it related to the man who is changing his name? Is it related to the fact that Israel became an independent country in 1948? </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This story begins with an allusion to birth (amniotic fluid is the substance surrounding an embryo); then, a man mentions feeling like a newborn baby (this emotion is associated with </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">starting</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> ball-point pens, which are filled with a fluid); next, we learn that </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">birth</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> certificates are being "towed out to sea" (the sea being, of course, another fluid). We don't want to overstate it, but there are some interesting associations happening here. But they are not immediately apparent. (In fact, we didn't notice them until we started typing.) Looking at the story now, it reads almost like a ghazal. (Briefly and reductively, a ghazal is an ancient Arabic poetic form that progresses in couplets based on association rather than logic. That's what we think a ghazal is anyhow. We could be very, very wrong.) Hence</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, we are again in the land of poetry. </span></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If you want to read something by Katchor, start with </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. It will amuse and amaze. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Jew of New York</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> shows Katchor taking what he has learned from his Knipl strip and applying it to a book-length comic set in nineteenth century New York. It is a freewheeling, delightful work packed with bizarre, fascinating characters. One of our favourites is Francis Oriole, a man who plans to carbonate Lake Erie and pipe soda water into the homes of all Americans. Another favourite is Maurice Cougar, a "lost Jew" living in the wilderness; he leases trapping equipment, invests in beaver pelts, and obsesses over an actress named Miss Patella, though he has no interest whatsoever in watching live theatrical productions. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In Katchor's book, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Jew of New York</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> is a play being performed about Mordecai Noah, a man who attempted (and failed) to create "a city of refuge for the Jews" on an island in New York State. He is the sort of figure that </span></span><a href="http://theenthusiasts.blogspot.com/2009/08/1-paul-collins.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Paul Collins</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> might write about. Here is the first page of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Jew of New York </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(click on the image to zoom):</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/SqGPyrPoQUI/AAAAAAAAAEU/vd6uEPVIBDY/s1600-h/jewOfNY2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 381px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/SqGPyrPoQUI/AAAAAAAAAEU/vd6uEPVIBDY/s400/jewOfNY2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377737530821591362" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We won't analyze this page. We will simply say that </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Jew of New York</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> is definitely worth reading. It is more challenging and ambitious than Katchor's Knipl books. We love Knipl, but it's great to see Katchor trying (and very much succeeding) in a denser, longer format. If the Knipl works are like poetry, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Jew of New York</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> is like an illustrated novel. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Other reading/listening/viewing</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">:</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Katchor's other two books -- </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Cheap Novelties: The Pleasures of Urban Decay</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (1991) and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">J</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ulius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer: The Beauty Supply District</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (2000) -- are wonderful. They're just not quite as wonderful as the two books that we've recommended above. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><a href="http://katchor.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Katchor's website</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> includes information on a variety of his projects. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">An interesting early project involved adapting some of the </span></span><a href="http://hearingvoices.com/webwork/isay/knipl.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Knipl </span></span></a><a href="http://hearingvoices.com/webwork/isay/knipl.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">stories for radio</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (featuring Jerry Stiller). The website also includes links to some of his online comic strips. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Since publishing these four books, Katchor has collaborated on several musicals. In these productions, he generally writes the text and creates drawings that are projected on the stage. So far, he's collaborated on five musicals, including </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island, or, The Friends of Dr. Rushower </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(2004) and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A Check Room Romance</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (2009). (A list of Katchor's musicals can be seen </span></span><a href="http://katchor.com/Musictheaterpage.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">here</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.) </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Unfortunately, we have not seen any of these productions (aside from a few online clips), but we have the album for the "comic-strip opera" </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Carbon Copy Building</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (recorded in 2000 and released in 2006; it features music by Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe). (Despite the "comic-strip opera" tag, the music here is not what you would expect from a classical opera; this is a modern opera or -- do we have to say it? -- an avant-rock opera. The musical arrangements include keyboards, percussion, clarinets, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> distorted guitars, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">and soaring vocals.) The disc is nicely packaged and definitely worth a listen, but it's not meant to be listened to casually. You need to set aside 72:14 and spend time with the music and the attractive, Katchor-illustrated booklet. Among the characters in the opera are food embalmers and a carbon-copy-scented delivery boy. Katchor, ever the urban anthropologist, includes songs about eating utensils used by early bird diners and a glob of hardened chewing gum. In one song, the manager of the Palaver Building (Katchor has a fondness for the names of buildings and companies) sings, "When something doesn't work, it's removed, discarded, and replaced." (Broken and discarded objects appear throughout Katchor's work.) The album gains momentum with each song. In particular, some of the later songs are quite surprising (e.g., "August 13th," "Closing Slide Lecture"). </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Carbon Copy Building</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> is not meant for the Katchor novice, though. It should be approached only after you've absorbed the rest of his work. It belongs in a class called Advanced Studies in Katchor.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If you want to find out more about Katchor, the best place to start is Lawrence Weschler's profile of the cartoonist. It first appeared in the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">New Yorker</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (1993; the essay was called "A Wanderer in the Perfect City")</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, and it's in Weschler's excellent book </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A Wanderer in the Perfect City: Selected Passion Pieces</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (1998; this revised essay is called </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"Katchor's Knipl, Knipl's Katchor"</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">).</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We recently emailed Ben Katchor to ask him if he had any books coming out in the near future. (We enjoy reading his strips online, but his detail-oriented drawings work better in print format. Plus, it's been nearly 10 years since his last book appeared.) He replied that a new book may be published in 2010. We really hope this happens. Regardless, we will read (and reread) whatever he produces. (Sorry this entry is so long. We just really, really like what Katchor is doing.)</span></span></p></div></div>the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-34596779126893889662009-08-27T15:20:00.000-07:002009-09-10T20:02:54.984-07:004. Wong Kar-wai<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/SpcJBgufrSI/AAAAAAAAADk/RXb-kq_Y7N8/s1600-h/Kar-Wai_01_body.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 249px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/SpcJBgufrSI/AAAAAAAAADk/RXb-kq_Y7N8/s320/Kar-Wai_01_body.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374774601859444002" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">A few days ago, we saw Wong Kar-wai's film </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Ashes of Time Redux </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">on DVD. Despite the muddy storyline (apparently, the plot is clearer in the Redux version than in the original), we were reminded of films by him that we've admired.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">At this point, we've seen all of Kar-wai's feature films except for two: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">As Tears Go By</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (1988; this was his first film as a director) and the original </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Ashes of Time</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (1994). (It would take at least a paragraph or two to explain why there are two different versions of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Ashes of Time</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, so we won't go into it here.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">) Everything that we've seen is worth a look-see. That said, his best films are great and his lesser films include great moments. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">How we discovered Wong Kar-wai</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">S</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">h</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">o</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">r</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">t</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">l</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">y</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">b</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">e</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">f</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">o</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">r</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">e</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">t</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">h</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">e</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">r</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">e</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">l</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">e</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">a</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">s</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">e</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">o</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">f</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">C</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">h</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">u</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">n</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">g</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">k</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">i</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">n</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">g</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">E</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">x</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">p</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">r</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">e</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">s</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">s</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> in North America</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, we read an article in </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Film Comment</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> about Wong Kar-wai's films. (All we can recall from the article is that he seemed to scribble ideas for his screenplays in coffee shops.) A while later, we rented </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Chungking Express</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> from a local video store. We thoroughly enjoyed the film's performances and its distinctive style. Later, we made trips to the university cinema (Cinecenta, in Victoria, BC) to see his next two films </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Fallen Angels</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (1995) and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Happy Together</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (1997).</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Why Wong Kar-wai's films are worth watching</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We know that we aren't going out on a limb by recommending Wong Kar-wai. He's one of the most acclaimed directors in the world. He's had several books written about him. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">In a </span></span><i><a href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/63/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Sight and Sound</span></span></a></i><a href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/63/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> poll</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> from 2002, UK critics were asked to list the top ten directors and films of the past 25 years. Wong Kar-wai ranked #3 as director (just behind Scorsese and Kieslowski) and the #8 film was </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Chungking Express</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">. (</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">In the Mood For Love </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">missed the Top 10 by one vote.) </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Truth be told, Kar-wai isn't one of our favourite directors. But there's something very alluring about his films. Even when we don't get what he's doing exactly, we sometimes feel compelled to re-watch his films to try to find out. (Much of our favourite art -- literature, music, cinema -- tends to take time to digest. We like books, albums, and films that have tough bits, bits of gristle that we can gnaw on.) </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We love the look and tone of Wong Kar-wai's films. The best of them involve close collaboration with Christopher Doyle (one of our favourite contemporary cinematographers) and William Chang (on many Kar-wai films he has somehow managed to be editor, production designer, and costume designer), both of whom are instrumental in creating the unique style of the films. His </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">films are refreshingly peculiar and t</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(61, 61, 61); line-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">here's an intangible brilliance to his best work.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">F</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">o</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">r</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">w</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">h</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">a</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">t</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">i</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">t</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">'</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">s</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">w</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">o</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">r</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">t</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">h</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Wong Kar</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">-</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">w</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">a</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">i</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> also uses rain and music in film as well as anyone since </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Singin' in the Rain </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">and</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> The Umbrellas of Cherbourg</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Where to start</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">:</span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: normal; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Days of Being Wild</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (1990)</span></span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Chungking Express</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (1994)</span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">In the Mood For Love</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (2000)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The films</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The first time we saw </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Days of Being Wild</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, we didn't fully appreciate it. Taking place in Hong Kong and the Philippines (circa 1960), the film focuses on a few volatile relationships. Leslie Cheung is convincing as the not-too-nice main character (his name is "Luddy" according to the DVD box and IMDb, but we think he's generally referred to as "York" in the subtitles), a rebel with a plausible cause (he's adopted and has a troubled relationship with his adopted mom). His chemistry with actress Maggie Cheung (playing York's girlfriend/ex-girlfriend) is amazing, as is Maggie Cheung's chemistry with Andy Lau (playing a cop/sailor). In one riveting scene, York's ex-girlfriend asks, "Did you ever really love me?" He replies, "I can't know how many more women I'll fall for in my life. I won't know which I love most until the end of my life." Meanwhile, this exchange is being overheard by his current girlfriend. Ouch. (A barely-related, indulgent digression: The tone of this scene reminds us of the ex-lovers song "Hearts of Stone," with its devastating line "But I can't talk now; I'm not alone." Here's </span></span><a href="http://www.southsidejohnny.com/audio/Hearts%20of%20Stone%20(remix).mp3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">a remixed version</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> of the song by Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes w/ Bruce Springsteen, who wrote the song. We prefer the version on the SJ and the AJ album </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Hearts of Stone </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">[1978], or even the Springsteen version on </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Tracks </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">[1998]. Yes, we have been listening to a lot of Southside Johnny lately.) </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Like some of Wong Kar-wai's other films,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Days of Being Wild </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">i</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">s indebted to French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard, particularly the film's overly abrupt ending. Kar-wai also has a similar approach to writing screenplays to Godard's (that is, he relies heavily on improvisation). </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Chungking Express </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">is the most fine-tuned and consistently rewarding of WKW's early films (that is, his pre-2000 films). It has two dovetailing love-related storylines (its third storyline was made into a separate film, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Fallen Angels </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">[1995]</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">,</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> which isn't one of our favourite of Kar-wai's movies). One story is about a lovelorn, tinned-pineapple-eating cop who meets a wig-wearing, gun-toting vixen, and the other story is about a cute, doe-eyed girl who works at a food stall and falls for a chef-salad-ordering cop. The film looks great (thanks, Chris Doyle and William Chang!), and the performances are dynamite, particularly those by Faye Wong (the doe-eyed girl) and Tony Leung (the chef salad cop). </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Here's a clip of the chef salad cop and the doe-eyed girl meeting:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre; "></span></div><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IAH-0GKvIrM&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x3a3a3a&amp;color2=0x999999"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IAH-0GKvIrM&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x3a3a3a&amp;color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><br /></span></span><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">In the Mood For Love</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> is different stylistically and tonally than Wong Kar-Wai's previous films. It has less handheld camera work and is more meticulously composed. It looks gorgeous and has the feel of a 98-minute-long novel. (We recall seeing an interview with Michael Ondaatje, who has made documentary films himself, in which he mentioned how </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">In the Mood For Love</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> reminded him of a great novel.) </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The film is at once languorous, intense, rigorous, and sensuous. It is also one of very few films we can think of in which characters' clothing reveals aspects of their personalities.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> If you have have never seen a Wong Kar-wai film, start with </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">In</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> the Mood For Love</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">. It is rich, romantic, and truly remarkable. The lead performances by Maggie Cheung (as Mrs. Chan) and Tony Leung (as Mr. Chow) are astonishingly good. Enough said.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Here is an illustrative clip from the film:</span></span></div><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EjcTPRkAfL0&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x3a3a3a&amp;color2=0x999999"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EjcTPRkAfL0&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x3a3a3a&amp;color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia, fantasy;"><br /></span></span><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Other viewing/reading</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We would also recommend seeing </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">2046 </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">(2004). It is an unusual, difficult-to-describe film that stars </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Tony Leung, a </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">frequent Kar-wai collaborator and an all-around fantastic actor. We can't remember much of this movie, but we will certainly be seeing it again before long. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">There are many books about Wong Kar-wai, though we have not read any of them. We understand that the best one might be Stephen Teo's </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Wong Kar-wai</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (one of at least two books with that title published in 2005). That's the one that we're planning to borrow from the library soon. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(61, 61, 61); line-height: 15px; font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: normal; font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span></div>the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-59403778940599938432009-08-18T13:31:00.001-07:002009-09-10T20:11:26.014-07:003. Sloan<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/SosPsX7LNTI/AAAAAAAAADc/c6gS4F7jpS0/s1600-h/1118364960_l.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/SosPsX7LNTI/AAAAAAAAADc/c6gS4F7jpS0/s320/1118364960_l.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371404235580323122" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Initially, our enthusiasm for Sloan developed slowly. A song here, an album there. We chipped away for years until we found our iPod saturated with Sloan. For the past two years or so, we have enjoyed a steady diet of finger-snapping, drum-cracking pop from these ex-Haligonians (currently Torontonians). We don't see our interest in their crisp, infectious songs disappearing any time soon.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Since 1991, Sloan has been creating guitar-based, harmony-laced power pop. All four musicians in the band write songs, and the band's best albums contain at least two songs written by each member. (The four members of Sloan are Chris Murphy, Patrick Pentland, Jay Ferguson, and Andrew Scott. All of them can sing, and they still sound like Sloan when they switch instruments.)</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>How we discovered Sloan</b>:</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Like most Canadians, we first heard Sloan when the single "Underwhelmed" (from the band's first album, <i>Smeared</i> [1992]) broke the sound barrier. It was catchy and ubiquitous, but it didn't compel us to buy <i>Smeared</i>. (Years later, when we did purchase it -- for a very reasonable price -- it revealed itself to consist mainly of undistinguished guitar rock.) Later, we borrowed or bought the occasional Sloan album. We first became interested in Sloan while living in Nova Scotia during the early '00s. (Our favourite maritime shout-out is in the appropriately-named "The N.S." on <i>Between the Bridges</i>: "If you get cold when you're swimming in the ocean / it's hard to believe you're a Nova Scotian boy.") After a friend burned us a copy of <i>Never Hear The End Of It</i>, we finally yielded to Sloan's melodic pull and found ourselves tracking down most of the band's back catalogue.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>Why Sloan is worth listening to</b>:</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Every album by Sloan has at least a few great songs, and the band's best albums are riddled with them. Sloan manages to evoke the history of catchy rock, yet succeeds in maintaining its own sound. Sloan's songs often occupy the border between cheekiness and sincerity, a border that also happens to be filled with harmonies and melodies. Sloan has learned from the pantheon of rock, and it knows how to create inventive arrangements and intelligent lyrics. On many occasions, we have found ourselves afflicted with Sloan-induced ear worms. Oh, Sloan is also one of very few groups that knows how to fruitfully work the word 'rock' in a rock song. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We are not arguing that everything by Sloan is original and delightful. It isn't. Some of its songs are derivative and unspectacular. When Sloan tries to write hits, these songs tend to lack the idiosyncrasies that make the band appealing. But when everything works, Sloan is a wonder. There are few contemporary musicians that we follow, but we follow Sloan. And the band's last two albums are among its best. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>Where to start</b>:</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i>One Chord To Another</i> (1996)</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i>Never Hear The End Of It</i> (2006) </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>The albums</b>:</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i>Twice Removed</i> (1994) is the band's most acclaimed album. According to one poll, it's the best Canadian album ever. Hmm. It's not even our favourite Sloan album. But it's got some real treats, including two songs that probably enjoyed heavy radio rotation in an alternate universe: "People of the Sky" and "Coax Me." We still remember the first time we heard "People of the Sky" -- that great "bah bah bah-da bahhhhhhhh" backing vocal and the deathless line "Like a three-legged dog in search of a crutch." However, our favourite song on <i>Twice Removed</i> is "Coax Me." It's got a catchy melody, a sweet "oooooooooohh" backing vocal, and -- wait for it -- the bridge is sung in falsetto. The lyrics are oblique with bits of lucidity peeking through (e.g., "It's not the band I hate; it's their fans"). Other songs to sample include "Snowsuit Sound" and "I Can Feel It." </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Here's the video for "Coax Me":</span></span></p><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Uj6d-CQNJ-c&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x3a3a3a&amp;color2=0x999999"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Uj6d-CQNJ-c&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x3a3a3a&amp;color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica, -webkit-fantasy;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">One Chord To Another</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> is twice as good as </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Twice Removed</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">. We're fond of every track and nearly all of them have confident, uncluttered arrangements. Listen to the contrast between the spare, piano-dominated "A Side Wins" and the song that follows it, "Everything You've Done Wrong," with its horns and handclaps. Throughout <i>One Chord To Another</i>, we love the brilliant use of percussion (handclaps, tambourines, shakers, etc.). The lyrics are another highlight. Check out "Autobiography," for example. It begins, "I'm writing 'young and gifted' in my autobiography. / I figured who'd know better than me. / I'm certainly the former, but I'm not so much the latter. / No one's gonna read it so I'm sure it doesn't matter."</span></span></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Here's the song "The Lines We Amend" (we didn't talk about it, but we really like it):</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><br /></span></p><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xmvVvcf8mBE&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x3a3a3a&amp;color2=0x999999"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xmvVvcf8mBE&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x3a3a3a&amp;color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Released ten years after </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">One Chord To Another</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Never Hear The End Of It</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> has a walloping 30 songs. It's got a bit of everything, including several one- and two-minute bursts of pop, rock, and hardcore. We are fond of the heterogenous everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach. We agree with William Carlos Williams that the art you create shouldn't be expected to be consistent ("[A human being] varies; Hamlet today, Caesar tomorrow," he said). We don't love all of the songs equally, but who cares? Even a straightforward foot-tapper like "Someone I Can Be True With" contains some wonderful lines: "She's someone to hear Husker Du with / And someone to wait in the queues with / And someone to hate all things new with / She's someone to watch <i>Gremlins 2</i> with." The details in these lyrics are funny and revealing. We've got a bead on this guy. "Right or Wrong," the next song on the album, includes the lines "This one's for the girls / There's no particular one in the world." To our ears, Sloan is taking the piss out of run-of-the-mill love songs. And what do we make of a sort-of piano ballad ("Live The Life You're Dreaming Of") that begins, "Hello, / can I have a show / of hands who have taken / something before?" But the delivery on the song is truly emotional, especially on the repeated refrain, "Maybe I can make it happen."</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">For us the album's centerpiece is "Fading Into Obscurity," a mini epic that clocks in at 4:12. The song is essentially a series of short interconnected bits that adds up to something pretty remarkable. It exhibits ambition, cleverness, tempo shifts, harmonies, and an array of glittering musical and lyrical shards. One choice lyric: "I made a name for myself when one could do such a thing, / a reputation that's held together by string. / And so I chose to cherish those who think there's some purity / to fading into obscurity." And another: "This cake is baked, / but I much prefer the batter / perhaps in part because it had so much potential / to be delicious and still be influential." </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Sloan playing "Fading Into Obscurity" live:</span></span></p><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/x46WyJOrbDg&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x3a3a3a&amp;color2=0x999999"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/x46WyJOrbDg&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x3a3a3a&amp;color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy; "><b>Other listening/viewing</b>:</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">We also have a lot of love for the albums <i>Between the Bridges</i> (1999) and <i>Parallel Play </i>(2008). But we've already written too much about <i>One Chord</i> and <i>Never Hear</i>. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">There are, of course, various music and concert videos out there, and we're confident you can find them without our assistance. Apparently, there is a live Sloan DVD -- lamely titled <i>Keepin' the Tour Alive --</i> that was released in 2006. We have not seen it. </span></span></p></span><p></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><br /></span></p>the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-35509741966790158232009-08-10T16:27:00.000-07:002009-09-10T20:12:32.013-07:002. Friday Night Lights<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/SoCugpZm01I/AAAAAAAAAC8/HAw-hCXUkmU/s1600-h/friday_night_lights_header.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 166px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Fcs2cP8KgtQ/SoCugpZm01I/AAAAAAAAAC8/HAw-hCXUkmU/s320/friday_night_lights_header.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368482631717933906" /></a><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We just finished watching Season 3 of the TV series </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Friday Night Lights</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">. It’s about a high school football team (the Panthers) in Dillon, Texas. We have no interest in football or high school students (played by 20-something actors, no less). But we really enjoy this series. (We almost said ‘enjoyed,’ but it looks like the show has been renewed for two more seasons. You’ll have to wait a while for Season 4, though. It doesn’t start until summer 2010.)</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">How we discovered Friday Night Lights:</span></span></b></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This series is a recent enthusiasm. We heard the series was good, and Season 1 was sitting on the shelf in the library. So, we took it home, watched a few episodes, and became hooked. A week later, we watched Seasons 2 and 3 in one week. (Just so you know: it’s called </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Friday Night Lights</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> because the Panthers' football games happen on Friday nights under bright stadium lights.) </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Why it’s worth watching</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">:</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The characters are simultaneously simple and complex and so are their relationships. And the acting is frequently amazing. You may find yourself caring about characters that you disliked early in the series. You will understand why </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">FNL</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> has a 8.6/10 rating on imdb.com. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We are often surprised by the number of people we know who are addicted to the series. (A few days ago, we mentioned to a co-worker that we had just finished watching Season 3. By the end of the day, we had promised to lend our Season 3 DVDs to 3 different co-workers. All of them are female and none of them has an interest in football. That says something. Hopefully, it doesn’t just say that there are a bunch of cute boys in the show.)</span></span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', -webkit-fantasy;">Is <i>Friday Night Lights</i> a brilliant show? No. It's trashy TV. (Picture an adrenalized, American version of <i>Coronation Street</i> with a younger, more attractive community and an overuse of handheld camera work and quick editing. Then, throw in a football, a locker room, and a handful of broken homes.) OK, so <i>FNL</i> is essentially a Texan teen soap opera. At least it's good trashy TV. A pleasure you don't have to feel guilty about enjoying. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The series</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">:</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It’s hard for us to discuss this show in terms of its story arc. Yes, the series has an arc, but it’s not as finely executed as in some series (e.g., </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Mad Men</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The Wire</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">). The strength of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Friday Night Lights</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> is its characters and the relationships (f<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms', -webkit-fantasy;">riends, lovers, teammates, family members) <span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms', fantasy;">between those characters.<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms', -webkit-fantasy;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms', fantasy;">We come to care about a gawky, ginger-haired dweeb trying to rock out with his Christian metal band, Crucifictorious. We come to care about an ex-cheerleader who finds religion after cheating on her boyfriend (with his best friend, of course). We come to care about an oily, fast-talking car salesman who derives his identity from his ongoing relationship with the Panthers.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Here’s a commercial from said car salesman, Buddy Garrity:</span></span></p><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/asaFUAo-09Q&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x3a3a3a&amp;color2=0x999999"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/asaFUAo-09Q&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x3a3a3a&amp;color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', -webkit-fantasy; "><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', -webkit-fantasy; ">Surprisingly, the football games in the series can pack an emotional wallop because you get to know the players off the field. You also get to know another side of the players, the head coach, and even the fans during games.</span><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The characters who form the three-chambered heart of the show: </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><ol><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms', fantasy;">Eric Taylor: He is the head coach trying to "do what's right for the team," even if it's unpopular in football-obsessed Dillon. (This is a town where <i>everyone</i> has an opinion about what the coach should be doing to win on Friday night.) Kyle Chandler's understated performance is remarkably compelling. </span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms', fantasy;">Tim Riggins: Yep, he's the tough, perpetually hungover bad boy who the girls can't resist. But Taylor Kitsch turns him into a strangely nuanced and decent young Texan. </span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms', fantasy;">Matt Saracen: He's the uncharismatic first-string quarterback -- aka QB1 -- who looks after his bathrobe-wearing, dementia-afflicted grandma. Zach Gilford makes him the most refreshing character on the show.</span></li></ol><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', fantasy;">There are a variety of strong female characters as well, including Tami Taylor (the coach's wife, who also works at the high school; she's spunky, headstrong, and intelligent), Julie Taylor (the coach's daughter, who dates one of the Panthers), and Tyra Collette (a pretty blonde who initially accepts, but eventually wants to transcend, her white trash upbringing; her sister is a stripper and her mom is an aging sexpot).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The first and third seasons of the series are consistently good. Unfortunately, the second season takes a few ill-advised detours. (We believe Season 2 may have been somewhat lacking due to the Writers’ Strike in 2007/08.) The way Season 3 ends, we’re not sure how many characters will be returning for Season 4. But we’re looking forward to finding out.</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Other reading/viewing</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">:</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The series</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> FNL</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> was created by Peter Berg, co-director and co-writer of the film </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Friday Night Lights</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (2004). The film was, in turn, based on the book </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (1990) by H.G. Bissinger. In his book, Bissinger writes about a high school football team (the Panthers) from Odessa, Texas (the town in the TV series -- Dillon, TX -- is fictitious). We started to read the book, but its prose was too overheated for our taste, so we abandoned it. And we haven’t seen the film.</span></span></p> <!--EndFragment--></div>the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1340805645740112810.post-89261521087383450252009-08-04T20:09:00.000-07:002009-09-10T20:10:41.522-07:001. Paul Collins<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">A few days ago, we finished Paul Collins’ just-published </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The Book of William</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">. For no other reason, we decided that Collins should be the focus of the first installment of this series. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We have read every book Collins has published except his first book, a textbook called</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Community Writing: Researching Social Issues Through Composition</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">. All of his other five books are worth reading.</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">How we discovered Paul Collins</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">:</span></span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">When we were teaching English as a Second Language, one of our co-workers lent us a copy of </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">McSweeney’s</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> no. 5 (this was in 2000 or 2001), which included an amazing article by Collins called “Solresol, the Universal Musical Language.” A year or two later, we checked out </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Banvard’s Folly</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> from the library.</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Where to start</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">: </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"></p><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Banvard’s Folly: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn’t Change the World</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (2001)</span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Not Even Wrong: A Father’s Journey into the Lost History of Autism</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (2004)</span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The Book of William: How Shakespeare’s First Folio Conquered the World</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (2009)</span></span></li></ul><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Why he’s worth reading</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">:</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Collins unearths unbelievable stories that happen to be true. He brims with enthusiasm for rare books and old newspaper articles. In these sources, he always finds eccentric characters and remarkable nuggets of information (or misinformation).</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">He also peppers his works with a great selection of quotations from peculiar sources.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The books</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">:</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">His first book, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Banvard’s Folly</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, focuses on thirteen once-famous people who are now long forgotten. They include an artist who painted an enormous canvas – reputed to be three miles long - that moved past the viewer, the creator of the Concord grape, and the inventor of a music-based universal language. The book is held together mainly by the underlying glue of fame-to-obscurity narratives. This may be Collins’ funniest book. (The other contender would be the delightful </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> [2003], which is about trying to buy a home in the Welsh town Hay-on-Wye, a town with pop. 1,500</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">and 40 bookstores.) </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Not Even Wrong</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> is Collins’ second memoir (the first being </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Sixpence House</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">), and it’s his most personal (and emotional) book to date. It focuses on the author’s discovery that his son Morgan is autistic, causing Collins try to find out what he can about autism and its history. His discussion of Peter, a ‘wild boy’ in the early 1700s who Collins suggests may have been autistic, is particularly fascinating. We have recommended this book to a few people and they have all enjoyed it. This may be our favourite of Paul Collins’ books.</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Collins’ most recent book, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The Book of William</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, looks at how Shakespeare’s First Folio became the most expensive and the most revered secular work in the world. It is packed with illuminating historical details. (For example, after stating that a printer and his assistants nailed several copies of a book’s title page to nearby posts, Collins writes, “This is the eminently practical reasoning behind old title pages – their ludicrously prosaic subtitles make sense when doubling as posters.” Huh.) Though we had no interest in reading about Shakespeare, we knew that we would like this book because of its author. (That said, we were somewhat disappointed by his previous book, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The Trouble with Tom: The Strange Afterlife and Times of Thomas Paine </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">[2005]. Though the book is animated by a great cast of characters, including Walking Stewart and Moncure Conway, we felt that Collins lost the narrative thread at times.)</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Whether writing about warring 18</span></span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">th</span></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">C wags Pope and Theobald or unfolding the story of why a business consultant decided to track down every existing copy of the First Folio, Collins always manages to be both entertaining and informative. His enthusiasm for the past is contagious. He makes us care about history.</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Other reading</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">:</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Collins maintains an enjoyable, wonderfully-named blog, </span></span><a href="http://weekendstubble.blogspot.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Weekend Stubble</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, which often includes links to his latest articles. Since 2002, he has also been the editor of the Collins Library (published by McSweeney’s). These books tend to be out-of-print and obscure. The few titles that we’ve read in this series include </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Curious Men</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (a slim, rather slight selection of writings on Victorian curiosities; from the mid-to-late 1800s), </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">English as She Is Spoke</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (a hilariously atrocious English phrasebook; first published in 1855), and </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Lady into Fox</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (an astonishing novella about a man whose wife suddenly transforms into a fox; first published in 1922</span></span>). </p> <!--EndFragment-->the enthusiastshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13975809227425493656noreply@blogger.com2